How to improve my setup for $250 for games

Hi. I have a computer I built about 3 years ago that's been a word processing / internet exploring computer for a long time. Then, the new SW:TOR MMO came out, and as a fan of the SW universe, I checked it out. For the time being, I'm hooked, and am looking for a way to improve my gaming experience. I'm just not sure what the best investment might be.

I don't want to build a new rig - who knows how long this interest might last. I'm willing to spend up to $250 (number seemed like a reasonable amount, and is about the cost of a newer video card).

Current setup (Rig in sig):
Intel Q6600 @ 2.4 Ghz, 4 gigs of RAM (Corsair, I forget timing/speed), Radeon HD4850, Corsair 520W PSU

Both the CPU & GFX Card have aftermarket HSF (the stock GFX nearly died, so I replaced it with an aftermarket HSF). Everything is running at default right now, but I think I might OCing some things gently (back when I built the computer, I bought aftermarket HSFs so I could do that, but then I didn't have a need to).

My first inclination is to run and grab a new vid card. I just don't know about what games take up a lot of these days.... I have long load times in SW:TOR, wouldn't that be CPU? But would a better GPU let me run things on HIGH setting, or would my older CPU slow me down? etc.

[edit] Mistakenly said 2 gig ram, forgot i upgraded to 4 gigs a few years back.

A new GPU would help. I think 2GB of ram is probably pushing it, too. Sadly, DDR2 is nearly twice as expensive as DDR3 these days. You can get a 4GB kit for just under $50 though, and you can currently snag a 560 Ti for $209 on newegg. Your CPU is certainly going to show it's age, but its going to be your most expensive thing to upgrade. You should be able to squeeze a bit more life out of it. Overclock it if you can, that will help.

Viper87227 said:

A new GPU would help. I think 2GB of ram is probably pushing it, too. Sadly, DDR2 is nearly twice as expensive as DDR3 these days. You can get a 4GB kit for just under $50 though, and you can currently snag a 560 Ti for $209 on newegg. Your CPU is certainly going to show it's age, but its going to be your most expensive thing to upgrade. You should be able to squeeze a bit more life out of it.

Click to expand...

Just corrected my post. I actually have 4 gigs of RAM -- I forgot I upped that a while back.

You can very easily move the Q6600 to 3GHz (pin-mod if your BIOS does not allow OC). That should be free. 4GB RAM should be good enough. Assuming your motherboard can support a PCIe 2.0 card an HD68xx series card is around $150.

Also try to see how much you can get for your system. I have sold three Q6600 based Dell systems for around $250-300 over the last year. If you can get $200-$250 and then add another $250-$350 you might be able to get a current gen system.

$250 for i2500K+Z68 board from Microcenter
$50 for PSU: Antec New ECO, OCZ ModxStream Pro
$50 for case: Antec 300, Lancools on sale
$40 for 8GB RAM
$150 for an HD68xx series card.
$70 for 60GB OS SDD
Salvage a hard-drive for the short term till the prices come down.

The long load times you're talking about is usualy hard drive and GPU relatd. If you bought the hard drive when you built the PC, it's more than likely the source of your long load times.

I think your current CPU might bottleneck a new GPU like the GTX 560 TI. With that said, that might bottleneck might be alliviated if you can OC the CPU to 3.2Ghz at least. And yes you should still a performance increase even with the bottlneck but not the full capability of the GTX 560 TI.